Optimizing Ambulatory Care Asset Utilization through Hotspotting

Hotspotting allows us to allocate resources and services to the locations where they can be most utilized. The article discusses how the ability to anticipate disease prevalence and utilization patterns in a population health environment impacts facility and programmatic decisions. Download PDF of the Full Article: Ambulatory Hotspotting

Population health has changed the way we look at ambulatory investment. While in the past we looked for opportunities to expand market share and referral patterns to young insured populations, we are now challenged with improving the health of our highest utilizers. Many high utilizers are polychronic and dual eligible and have significant challenges regarding transportation and mobility. Today, investment is less about finding locations with fewer competitors and more about placing the appropriate services and caregivers where patients need them.

FreemanWhite has developed a number of recent tools to assess disease prevalence. Hotspotting allows us to identify health trends in a community to guide investment in ambulatory services. As we advance our ability to anticipate disease prevalence and utilization patterns, we lead the way in tying these forecasts to facilities implications.

Through demographic analysis, our tools help you allocate your resources to the locations where they can be most utilized. By correlating multiple population variables for each market under consideration, we can determine the community that has the greatest need and offers the highest revenue potential for a particular asset or service.

Disease Prevalence by Community

Because different communities have different patient profiles, such as variations in geriatric growth levels or chronic disease prevalence, a bubble graph helps decision-makers visualize each population’s healthcare needs and potential revenue in order to prioritize investments.

Bubble colors represent individual service areas. A small-sized bubble indicates that the market is a prime opportunity for the selected service or asset. The higher along the Y axis the bubble is located, the higher the disease prevalence. The further to the right the bubble is located along the x-axis, the greater the population growth or volume. Providers choose optimal locations by identifying the smallest bubbles towards the upper right corner of the graph, which represent communities with the highest potential use rate and the largest volume. The different types of chronic illnesses indicate different service and programmatic needs.

System Service Need Opportunities

This tool assists in evaluating whether data supports the addition or expansion of specific service lines within a designated geographic region. By identifying service gaps in the competitive marketplace, we uncover opportunities by comparing the quantity and utilization of services currently available to the quantity that can be supported by the current and future population in the area. We develop detailed market utilization analyses for defined ambulatory components and analyze service locations and local competitors within a specified service area. Our facilities blueprint recommends site location targets and facility programs generated from anticipated ambulatory volumes.

At FreemanWhite we are committed to validating our programmatic and strategic recommendations with demographic and utilization data.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR David White MBA, LEAN/DFSS Certified

David White takes a scientific approach to challenging problems, creating analytical tools that provide customized solutions. He specializes in innovative intelligence that helps clients draw meaningful conclusions, with a talent for interactive tools that support decision-making. David develops forecasting instruments that give clients unprecedented insight into ambulatory site selection.

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As FreemanWhite's Director of Analytics, David White specializes in innovative intelligence that helps clients draw meaningful conclusions. Ask David how his interactive tools can support your decision-making process.